Harbour Energy Shares Fell 3% on Mixed Half-Year 2023 Results

The Harbour Energy PLC (LON: HBR) share price fell 3.0% after releasing its half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2023. The company shared that it produced 196 kboepd, marking a slight decline from H1 2022, where it produced 211 kboepd.

The production aligned with previous guidance and was split equally between liquids and natural gas. The company recorded unit operating costs of $15/boe, marking a slight increase from H1 2022 when its costs were $14/boe.

WELCOME BONUS - Free Share Bundle When You Invest £50! Get up to £500 cashback for investing with IG.

Invest in 15,000+ shares and ETFs. Open an account now, invest at least £50, and you’ll get a free share bundle worth between £40 and £200. T&Cs apply.

5.0

Open Account Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Harbour Energy maintained a strong safety record with a TRIR of 0.8 per million hours worked compared to 0.7 per million in H1 2022. The company noted that its portfolio diversification efforts were progressing well. The regulator approved the firm’s Zama (Mexico) unit development plan. 

The oil and gas company also revealed that appraisal planning was underway at its Kan-1 oil discovery in Mexico. Following the Timpan-1 discovery in 2022, a multi-well Andaman Sea (Indonesia) exploration campaign will commence in October.

Harbour Energy noted that the UK government awarded its Viking and Acorn CO2 capture and storage (CCS) projects Track 2 status, a critical milestone towards potential final investment decisions.  

The company reported an EBITDAX of $1.4 billion, a slight decline from the $2.0 billion recorded in H1 2022. The company’s pretax profits were $0.4 billion, significantly falling from last year’s $1.5 billion. The firm’s loss after tax was $8 million compared to its $1.0 billion profit in 2022, driven by a higher UK tax rate and one-off tax charges. 

Linda Z Cook, Harbour Energy’s CEO, commented: “We remain focused on maximising the value of our UK oil and gas portfolio, advancing our organic development projects and disciplined capital allocation. This has allowed us to continue to generate significant free cash flow supporting material shareholder distributions while maintaining capacity for meaningful but disciplined M&A. We have also progressed our strategic investment opportunities outside of UK oil and gas – in Indonesia, in Mexico and in CCS. These have the potential to materially increase our reserve life, support shareholder returns and diversify our company over time.”

Harbour Energy share price. 

The Harbour Energy share price fell 3.00% to trade at 234.60p, from Wednesday’s closing price of 241.85p.